Lynchpin
by MariaShadow
Summary: G1-There are some people that we just can't do without, and Megatron has a plan to get rid of one of them. Complete
1. Default Chapter

This is my first attempt at a mulitchapter fic, so please be patient. This is a sort of re-write/expansion of my previous fic Heartbeat, so thanks to all the people who suggested that I expanded that fic a bit more and gave me the idea to do this. : )

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Lynchpin

Chapter 1

Ratchet gingerly eased a foot long spike of shrapnel out of Hound's leg and set it on the trolley beside him before picking up a small penlight and shining it into the ragged tear left in the metal.

"How bad is it?" Hound winced as Ratchet dug around in the hole with a long probe.  
"You're lucky, it's just cosmetic damage." The medic replied gruffly. "And what have we learned today?"  
"Do not attend any more of Wheeljack's weapon demos." The tracker parroted. He'd heard the lecture several times already that day.  
"Good."

Ratchet picked up an arc-welder and was about to begin sealing the hole shut when a flicker of movement caught his attention. "Sideswipe! Siddown or I'll weld you to the floor!" The medic ordered, not bothering to turn his head as he returned to the task at hand. Sideswipe, knowing full well that Ratchet was both willing and able to carry out the threat, gingerly lowered himself back to the floor.

The walking wounded, numbering about a dozen, lined the back wall of the repair bay. The more seriously damaged, of which there were only two, had been dealt with several hours earlier.

"Done." Ratchet announced as he set down the welder. "Report to Hoist and he'll fix your paint."  
"Thanks Ratchet." Hound grinned as he jumped off the berth he had been sitting on. "I don't know what we'd do without ya."  
"You're welcome." Ratchet answered gruffly, then turned to the still patently waiting warriors. "Next!"

Meanwhile, deep inside the Decepticon's underwater base, Megatron stood in his darkened quarters, brooding. Fully half his warriors had been disabled in the last disgraceful sham of an attack a week ago. "Where did it go wrong." The warlord growled to himself, absently rubbing the connection point on his arm where his cannon usually sat. A parting shot from Sideswipe had chipped the muzzle of the weapon, and Megatron knew far better than to fire the cannon while it had even the slightest damage, thus he had removed the weapon so that it could be repaired.

The massive warrior clasped his hands behind his back and paced. He knew that a part of the Autobot's reoccuring successes were due to their cohesion as a unit. His own troops were a clear example of what happened without that unity.

But there had to be a weakness, a fracture in that interlocking resolve. Megatron's frown deepened. Their strength was in numbers, but if one of the lynchpins could be brought down or captured their organisation could be crippled. The question was who. Prime had the nasty little habit of not dying when he was supposed to, the same with Ironhide. Jazz was too combat savvy to allow himself to get separated from the rest of his unit during battle, and when the tactician Prowl emerged to fight, he too stuck close to his comrades. Wheeljack would be too troublesome a prisoner, and he was almost always packing some new gimmick that would allow him to either escape, inflict serious damage on his troops or their base, or all three.

That left only…Megatron's lips twisted into his version of a smile as he began to rough out a plan.

It was that hellish time between midnight and morning when Ratchet finally staggered out of the repair bay in search of a working energon dispenser and somewhere to crash for an hour or ten. With bleary optics and shaky steps, he stumbled down the hall in a more or less direct route to the common room.

Jazz, who had just clocked off his shift, noticed the medic's semi-coherant state and came over to help. "Y' ok Ratch-man?" The black and white queried as he helped Ratchet stand up.  
"No." Was Ratchet's surly reply. "I'm gonna have Wheeljack's fraggin' head for this." Ratchet muttered, swaying slightly.  
"Well, b'fore y' go on a rampage, let's get a bit o' energon in ya before ya keel over." Jazz said as he slung one of Ratchet's arms around his shoulders and helped the medic down the corridor.

Skywarp didn't like this plan. Not one bit.

As the Seeker, along with the rest of the Earth-based Decepticons, listened to the latest plot cooked up by their leader, he decided that he _really_ didn't like this plan. But he'd seen Starscream get blasted enough times to know when it was and when it wasn't a good time to voice concerns. Right now was one of those times when it wasn't. So he very wisely decided to stay mute and continue listening. But he still didn't like the plan.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It took about a gallon of energon and the combined efforts of Jazz and Trailbreaker to finally get the exhausted medic into his room and onto his recharge berth.

"Man, I really hate seeing the Doc like that." Jazz shook his head slightly as he and Trailbreaker quietly walked away, trying not to disturb the Autobots in the surrounding rooms.  
"Yeah." Trailbreaker said. "He's wearing himself out. We've got to do something before he hurts himself."  
"No argument from me." Jazz paused at an intersection. "I'll go ask Prowl t' juggle the duties around so that the Ratch-man can get some uninterrupted shut-eye fer a change. Then I'll give Prime the 411 an' tell ol' Wheeljack t' keep his head down fer a bit."  
"Sounds like a plan to me. Do you think Prowl will be up?"  
Jazz paused to check his internal chronometer. "Yup, his shift starts in 'bout ten. G'nite 'breaker."  
"'nite Jazz."

"This is stupid." Ramjet grumbled. "What's the deal about bagging this one Autobot? Why not get 'em all?"  
"Because if we take out this one, they all start to fall apart, stupid!" Thrust shot back.  
"Hey, at least we get 't maul a couple of 'em first." Frenzy piped up. Ramjet's expression brightened up noticeably. "Yeah, we do, don't we?" he grinned malevolently.

"Pipe down!" Thundercracker hissed. "Do you want the whole country to know that we're here! Now get into your positions."

Grumbling, the other mechs complied and quickly concealed themselves as they prepared to settle down for the long wait.

The common room was filled with the usual commotion as the next shift came in to check out their duties for the day and get a cup or two of energon. Bluestreak, a mug of energon in hand, ran his optics down the duty list to see what he had been assigned. "Aw no! I got monitor duty with Red Alert again!" he moaned.

"Hey Bluestreak, can you check what we're up for?" Sideswipe yelled from where he and his twin were seated.  
"Um, says here you've got patrol with Mirage." The gunner called back. "Sunstreaker's still on light duty and no driving, so he's got comm duty with Blaster."  
"Lucky you." Sideswipe teased his twin. Sunstreaker muttered something and returned to his drink.

"What patrol route have we got?" Mirage asked, suddenly appearing at Bluestreak's side. The gunner flinched and stifled a yelp. "Route four, through the foothills." He replied when his fuel pump had settled down to its normal rhythm. "Do you mind not creeping up on me like that? It's kinda annoying almost jumping out of your paint about twice a day and I'd hate to…hey, where'd he go?" Bluestreak looked around, but the spy was long gone.

Prowl, looking as calm and collected as ever, was seated before the massive screen of Teletran One, scrutinising the latest sensor data. Behind him, the warriors assigned to patrol and sentry duty chatted as they waited for the OK to go. It was a daily occurrence, the officer on duty checking that each fresh shift would be safe outside the Ark's rock and metal walls before sending them out.

"Hey," Bumblebee tapped one of the tactician's door wings to get his attention, "we clear to go yet?"

"I'm running a final sweep." Prowl replied, drawing his door wings slightly up and out of the minibot's reach with a faintly irritated expression. "There was an anomaly in the north west quadrant."

"Anything we should be worried about?" That question came from Wheeljack, who was peering over the black and white's right shoulder.

"No." Prowl replied, resisting the urge to lean away from the mech invading his personal space. It was rather silly, but there hadn't been any explosions from the inventor's lab in over a month and Prowl knew Wheeljack was doing something with sodium and other very reactive metals, so he had no wish to be in range if Wheeljack spontaneously exploded.

Wheeljack, sensing the other's discomfort, backed off. Prowl was too disciplined to let out a sigh of relief and ran his optics over the readouts displayed on Teletran's screen one more time.  
"Well?" Bumblebee prompted.  
"All clear." Prowl answered. "Dismissed."

As the Autobots clattered out, Prowl couldn't help but feel a slight, nagging suspicion that something was going to happen today. With a slight frown he shrugged it off and returned to his duties, but not without an occasional flickered glance at the screen looming above him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was a nice day to go driving, Sideswipe reflected. It was a sunny day, there was nothing catastrophic looming on the horizon, and the clouds showed not the slightest hint of rain. It was just a pity that Sunstreaker wasn't out here to share it with him.

The red twin would have never admitted it, and if anyone even suggested it Sunstreaker would have smeared them across the floor, but whenever one brother was away from the other they both got nervous. Not stage-fright kind of nervous, with that weird fluttering sensation in your fuel tank, but the other kind of nervous, where you know that something bad is going to happen but you don't know what or when.

Sideswipe resolutely shoved the feelings aside, revved his engine and concentrated on his scanners.

"Autobots on approach!" The Reflector clones announced.  
"Who is it?" Ramjet asked.  
"Hopefully somebody we can maul real good." Thrust added, cracking his knuckles with a distinctly anticipatory expression.

"It's that crazy red one and the blue spy." Rumble answered, one hand shading his optics from the sun's glare.  
"I was hoping for that." Skywarp grinned evilly. "I owe the red one a good scrapping."  
"Get down!" Thundercracker ordered. "Here's hoping that doohickie works, they're almost here."

The two Autobots roared up the narrow track and into the craggy foothills, trailing clouds of dust. They were only just inside the shallow gorge when the Decepticons leapt out of hiding.

"AMBUSH!" Sideswipe yelled as laser rounds started carving gouges into the ground. He wrenched his wheels around to the right, transforming and diving for cover as he did so. Mirage fishtailed to avoid a barrage of missiles and quickly joined Sideswipe behind the house-sized boulder he had taken cover behind.

"I can't call base, radio's jammed." Mirage yelled over the cacophony.  
"And we're surrounded." Sideswipe said, risking a quick glance around their rapidly shrinking boulder. "I'll distract them, you get an emergency beacon out there." He ordered.  
"You've got the better arm." Mirage countered. "I'll cover you."

The race car popped up from behind the boulder and lay down a spread of laser fire, followed up by a missile that forced the attackers to dive aside. Sideswipe rolled into the open and flung the spherical beacon back out the way they had come before rolling back into cover. Now it was only a matter of time.

Prowl almost did a double take as the alert window popped up on Teletran's screen. He quickly read the message then jabbed his finger down on the intercom switch. "Autobots under attack, battle unit assemble." He ordered, then quickly rose to meet them at the entrance of the Ark.

"How did they get past th' sensors?" Ironhide asked as he, Jazz, Prowl, Brawn and Optimus pulled away from the Ark, engines roaring and dust flying from their tyres.  
"They must have had a blocking device." Prowl answered, silently berating himself for not investigating the anomaly.  
"Worry about that later, we've got to concentrate on the Decepticons." Prime cut in.

They caught up with the Decepticons close to where the beacon was broadcasting from, unfolding into robot mode and charging into battle. The startled Decepticons managed onlya few shots before a barrage of laser fire drove them off.

Prowl knelt beside the crumpled form of Sideswipe. The mech was in bad shape; panels of armour brutally ripped off and deep gouges taken out of his frame. He was clinging to consciousness by sheer willpower. Mirage wasn't much better, but was mercifully off line.

"Are they..?" Jazz asked worriedly.  
"No, but close to it." Prowl replied as he scanned the mech's injuries. "We can't risk moving them until they've been stabilised."  
"I'll contact Ratchet." Jazz said, touching one hand to the side of his head.

"What's going on!" Sunstreaker demanded as he limped into the repair bay, where Ratchet was quickly grabbing items and stuffing them into subspace.

"Mirage and Sideswipe got ambushed." Ratchet answered shortly as he emptied out a storage bin of emergency powerpacks.  
"I'm coming with you."  
"The slag you are!" Ratchet growled. "You're staying right here."  
"That's my brother out there." Sunstreaker replied in a deadly quiet voice. "I'm going."

Ratchet looked up at the warrior. He knew that stopping the mech would be impossible. The first thing that he had learned as the medic for this unit was to never get between the twins. Ever. "Fine, whatever." He replied angrily. "But if you mess up your internals with this stunt don't come bawling to me."  
Sunstreaker let that one slide.

Thundercracker led the rest of his group back to the plateau where Megatron was waiting. "Phase one complete, sir." The Seeker reported.  
"Good." Megatron surveyed the waiting Decepticons. "Prepare for phase two."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ratchet let out a paint-blistering epithet when he arrived at the scene and transformed, Sunstreaker close behind. "How the slag did this happen!" the medic demanded.

"The Decepticons had a device that baffled the Ark's sensors." Prowl explained, but he might as well have been talking to himself as Ratchet knelt beside Sideswipe, Sunstreaker hovering over the two with a look of guarded protectiveness.

Prime narrowed his optics as he surveyed the narrow gorge, Ironhide, Jazz, Brawn and Prowl automatically taking up defensive positions as they waited for Ratchet to finish the field repairs. "I don't like this." Optimus muttered to himself, then raised his wristcommunicator to his face, intending to call for backup.

_Ba-DOOOOM!_

Six cubic meters of rock vaporised under the assault of a full power fusion cannon blast, showering grit and pebbles over the Autobots.

"Decepticons! ATTACK!" Megatron bellowed from above the cluster of Autobots, his army clouding the sky behind him.

Prime snapped off a shot at his hovering arch-nemesis and quickly assessed the situation. "Jazz, go get backup!" he barked as he quickly moved to drag the still unconcious Mirage out of danger and towards where Ratchet was sheltering with Sideswipe.  
"But Prime…"  
"GO!"

Jazz gave the Prime an uncertain look but quickly transformed and fled, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw swooping down to 'dissuade' the black and white.

"Get down!" Ratchet yelled to Sunstreaker, both ducking as a missile struck nearby. The Autobots were keeping the Decepticons at bay for now, but cover was becoming scarce.  
"Keep working on them, I'll cover you!" Sunstreaker answered, optics flinty as he picked a target.

Ratchet muttered something unrepeatable and set to work pulling Sideswipe back from the brink of permanent stasis, pausing every few moments to shield his patient's internal systems from flying debris. Mirage was stable for the moment, but Ratchet still kept an optic on the blue and white spy as he pieced Sideswipe back together.

Skywarp lurked around the edge of the vicious fight, waiting for his moment. The Autobot reinforcements would be here soon, and he had to be quick. To complete his part of this plan would mean a literal jump into the proverbial hornet's nest, and considering exactly who was down there and how much the Seeker liked his bodywork the way it was, his timing had to be perfect.

So he crouched, just out of sight, and waited.

Fortunately, his opportunity came quite quickly. The Decepticon watched as Sunstreaker moved closer to where Mirage had been dumped, presumably to get a better shot, and then Ratchet shuffled back from his patient. The Seeker grinned and activated his teleportation system.

"Wha…Gyah!"

Sunstreaker whirled around at the choked off exclamation, optics hardening into frosty blue slits as he saw Skywarp teleport in and wrap one arm around Ratchet's neck from behind, catching the medic in a headlock while keeping his free arm and it's attached laser pointed at the yellow twin.

"Don't move," The Seeker snarled, then shifted his aim to the red Autobot at his feet. "Or this pathetic excuse for a scrap heap gets it."

Sunstreaker's face curled into an expression of absolute hatred and his hands tightened their grip on his gun. But he didn't dare fire, not while Sideswipe was at risk. Ratchet was struggling, but his captor was both taller and stronger and his efforts were in vain. The battle died down as everyone realised what had happened.

"I believe you have a choice, Prime." Megatron sneered from his vantage point above the Autobot commander. "Either let us leave with our captive, or I'll order Skywarp to begin firing on your wounded. A close range laser blast or two will leave you bereft of both your precious spy and that wretched twin. So, what will it be?"

Prime hesitated. If he allowed the Decepticons to leave, it would put Sideswipe and Mirage's lives in jeopardy, not to mention the high probability that Ratchet would be dead within the hour. And if he tried to retaliate, not only would he lose the two warriors, but most likely the medic as well.

Though Optimus was loath to admit it, he had to hand it to his Decepticon counterpart. No matter what choice he made, he was going to lose.


	5. Chapter 5

I just wanted to say thanks to PuraJazzBot, Seiberwing, xxxscalebladexxx, Tirya King, Straya, Draange, ChibiProwl and anyone else that I've missed for sticking with me this long. Things are going to get interesting.

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Chapter 5 

Both sides were now so caught up in the tense drama unfolding before them, that they failed to notice as Ratchet made a small, sharp movement.

Skywarp, however, most certainly did.

"Gyahh!" The sudden screech of Seeker pain caught everyone by surprise as Ratchet drove the laser scalpel he had been holding deep into the Decepticon's lower abdomen, following up with a cockpit shattering reverse elbow strike.

The Seeker groaned and released his grip just enough to allow Ratchet to free himself and stumble away. Skywarp recovered quickly and would have fired if Sideswipe hadn't rolled onto his stomach and wrapped his arms around Skywarp's legs, Sunstreaker then taking the opportunity to pounce on his unfortunate victim.

The temporary cease-fire quickly disintegrated into full combat again, an event not helped by the arrival of Jazz and a sizeable detachment of warriors.

Megatron snarled as he watched his carefully constructed plan crumble beyond all hopes of salvage. "I refuse to be bested again!" he roared as he swung his cannon around and issued the mental command to fire.

Everyone expected Megatron to fire at Prime. But he didn't.

The pale violet energy burst forth, striking not the Prime, nor the tactician or even the twins, but at the white and red armoured form of Ratchet, searing a neat cavity out of his left side. The Autobot didn't even have time to scream before his self-preservation systems kicked in and sent him into emergency stasis lock.

The twins were on their feet in a sparkbeat, their Seeker prey forgotten as they scrambled to the fallen medic's side.

"Decepticons, back to base!" Megatron ordered. His troops were only too happy to comply, gathering up their wounded and fleeing under a hail of fire and threats from the vengeful Autobots.

"Prime, we need to get Ratchet back to the base now!" Sideswipe yelled from where he and his brother were kneeling beside the fallen medic.

"Prowl, get back to the Ark and have Wheeljack and Hoist prep the repair bay." Optimus ordered, then transformed and opened his trailer door. "Get the wounded in."

It was a tense drive back to the Ark, and as Prime raced through the wide halls to the repair bay everyone was thinking the same thing, but nobody dared to ask it. Almost every Autobot had been shot by Megatron at one point or another, but it had always been Ratchet who repaired them. But now that Ratchet had been shot, would Wheeljack, with his limited medical skills, be able to save him?


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It was a somber group that gathered in the common room of the Ark. While Wheeljack and Hoist operated on Ratchet the rest of the wounded were taken to the science labs, where Sparkplug could effect basic repairs that would keep the Autobots healthy until Wheeljack could take a look at them.

"I still can't believe this is happening." Sideswipe murmured, sounding slightly dazed as he stared into his cup of energon. "I mean, he's Ratchet. He doesn't get hurt. At least, he didn't used to."

"I know what you mean." Hound added. "It feels so…" he paused to search for a word, "wrong, y'know?"  
"What I know is Ratchet wouldn't a' gott'n hurt in tha first place if th' scanners 'ad been workin' right." Ironhide commented. "That way, we'd a' seen th' Decepticons comin' b'fore the'd had th' chance t' rig their contraption or th' ambush."

"The scanners were working perfectly, I checked them on my rounds this morning." Red Alert jittered, almost daring someone to question his word. "Who was on watch?"  
"Prowl was." somebody answered.

All optics turned to the tactician.

"The scans could only detect a minor anomaly." Prowl answered quietly. "The second sweep didn't detect anything. I assumed that it was a glitch."  
"Assumed?" Cliffjumper asked. "Fat lot a good that's done us."

Prowl winced. Jazz, who was sitting next to him, sent a sharp warning glare at the minibot that quickly shut the red mech up.

"That's a moot point now." Bluestreak spoke up. "But what are we going to do if, y'know…" he trailed off uncomfortably. The average temperature in the room felt like it dropped about ten degrees.  
"He's got a point." Windcharger said. "What if he doesn't…"

"ENOUGH!" Sunstreaker slammed his cup down on the table and stood up. "If Ratchet were here he'd be yelling at the lot of you for being so slaggin' stupid! But since he's not, I will!" He glared at the surrounding Autobots. "Ratchet AIN'T gonna die. Get that through your thick craniums. He's too stubborn to let go, and he's not gonna start giving up now. He's _never_ given up on any of us before, so don't you _dare_ start giving up on him."

He sent one final, disdainful glare around the room then spun on his heel and left, his twin in his wake.

* * *

Wheeljack worked as quickly as his fingers allowed him to, re-routing cauterised energon lines and splicing emergency power packs into damaged systems. Neither he nor Hoist had said anything other than the occasional request for tools or parts.

A bundle of charred wiring crumbled under the inventor's fingers as he dug through the partially melted armour and the circuitry beneath it. Wheeljack paused every few minutes to wipe off the thick paste of congealing coolant and other fluids that accumulated on his fingers each time he reached inside his friend's battered body, praying that he had the skill to yank Ratchet back from the point of no return.

Usually Wheeljack was not the most devout of mechs. But usually it wasn't his best friend lying under his laser scalpel.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It was a long night at the Ark.

But though everybody was worried about Ratchet, the Autobots were still in the middle of a war and eventually everyone returned to their duties or to their rooms to catch up on their interrupted rest.

Perceptor and Grapple were pulling double shifts to cover for Wheeljack and Hoist, and Spike and Sparkplug helped Chip work on designing an upgrade for the sensor net.

Prowl was taking his 2 am to 6am shift when Jazz sauntered in. "Hey Prowl, howzit?" the Porsche-bot said cheerfully.

"Fine." Prowl answered curtly.

Jazz frowned and paused for a moment, watching the other mech closely. "No y' not Prowl." Jazz replied. "Y' may be able t' keep y' voice under control, but y' body lingo is screamin'." That got Prowl's attention. He turned slightly and threw Jazz a querying look. "What are you talking about?" He asked.

"Special ops training m' man." Jazz answered bluntly. "I can read y' like an open file." Jazz grabbed the nearest chair and straddled it. "Talk t' me man, it ain't good fer ya t' blame y'self for stuff that's outta your control."

Prowl resolutely pressed his lips together and faced the screen again.

"The silent treatment ain't gonna work on me Prowl." Jazz said, crossing his arms on top of the chair's back and resting his chin on them. "I ain't going away until y' talk t' me, and if y' get inta th' nitty gritties o' the rule book we've got th' same rank so y' can't order me away either. Now talk."

Prowl sighed. "You are serious about this?" he asked.

"I got a full tank o' energon an' my shift starts at noon. I can stay here as long as I need t'." Jazz replied with a cheeky half grin.

The black and white sighed again. The first thing he had learned about Jazz was the special ops officer was not one to be thrown from his objective, whether it was ferreting out information, planting a bomb, or simply convincing someone to talk. It would take something on the scale of an assassination attempt on Prime to divert him now, after which he would quite eagerly return to pestering Prowl into co-operation.

Prowl didn't need his battle computer to tell him that it would be a lot easier to just give in now.

"I am responsible." He said softly, keeping his optics anywhere other than Jazz's face. "It was my duty to ensure that they would be safe. I failed to recognise the threat, and I failed to anticipate what Megatron was planning. Now two Autobots are injured and one is near death."

"So that's what's got ya' doors in a knot. Y' tactical programming is kicking a fit over you not spottin' the anomaly fer what it was, and y' blaming y'self for the battle t' boot. Don't look so surprised. I was trained t' analyse 'bots, you were trained fer analysin' situations." Jazz admonished. "Now, y' listen t' me fer a bit. One, how were you supposed t' know what the 'Cons were up to? Y' didn't have any other info other than Sides and 'Raj were getting ganged up on. Two, y' ain't perfect, and everybody makes mistakes. Nobody's blamin' ya, so why should ya blame y'self. Three, y' don't got nothing t' feel all guilty about. Sideswipe will be Jet Judo-ing again within th' week, 'Raj 'ill be doin' his spy gig in a couple o' days, and if Ratchet found out y' were bein' so stupid he'd march down here and break open y' cranium with y' own chevron."

Jazz stood and put one reassuring hand on Prowl's shoulder. "Don't worry about the Ratch-man." He advised with a grin. "The Doc's survived over eight thousand years o' the twins at close range. Ol' Meggy ain't nothin' compared t' that."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sideswipe leaned against the wall, trying not to aggravate the temporary welds across his back, while his twin stood across from him, scowling at the world in general. The uncharacteristically silent mechs had stood guard at the doors of the repair bay for most of the night, ever since Sunstreaker had stormed out of the common room.

They didn't discuss why they did it, because there was no point in doing so. The twins liked Ratchet quite a bit. He was one of the very few mechs who could dish out his special brand of punishment just as well as the twins could. That and he was honest. Many Autobots in authority tended to put on airs or suck up to their superiors. Ratchet didn't do that.

The medic had also saved their lives countless times. Though the twins knew they couldn't do anything to help Ratchet directly, they did what they were best at to help indirectly: looking menacing and protecting their brother Autobots from harm.

Because if anyone dared harm Ratchet, the twins would make sure they got it back ten-fold.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Grimlock?"

The T-Rex looked up from the file he had been peering at. "What problem, Swoop?" he asked, noting the flier's worried expression.  
"Me Swoop hear other Autobots saying Ratchet hurt, might die." The smaller Dinobot said, slightly hesitant. "It true?"  
"Me, Slag hear that too." Slag chimed in.  
"Us as well." Sludge added, speaking for himself and Snarl.

Grimlock looked at the other Dinobots scattered around their lair. He hadn't wanted to worry them, but now they knew they needed reassurance. "It true Ratchet hurt." He said after a moment. "But Wheeljack fixing him. Ratchet will be OK, him Wheeljack can fix anything."

There was a happy rumble from the other Dinobots. Grimlock settled back down to read his data pad, a small smile hidden under his face mask. The Dinobots were naturally close to Ratchet and Wheeljack, and truth be told Grimlock had been worried when Prowl gave him the news. But then he remembered that Wheeljack would be operating on Ratchet, and T-Rex had utmost confidence in Wheeljack's abilities.

0o0o0o0o0

It was times like this when Optimus despised his role as Autobot leader.

Not long after arriving back, the Prime had gone into his quarters, where behind the safety of his locked door he could pace in worry and fear for his friend's life. He couldn't join the other Autobots in the common room, not until he could get his own emotions under control first. As Prime he wasn't allowed the luxury of showing fear, anxiety, worry or anything like that. No, he couldn't be, for lack of a better word, that human.

He had to maintain the brave face, be the strength that his troops needed. He also had to be the one to arrange matters in case the worst came to pass.

"Slag it!" Optimus brought his fist down on the nearest wall, creating a new dent to join the other two dozen already present from earlier crisis. Back when he had started to organise a proper army to stave off Megatron, Ratchet's was the first voice raised in support. Over the years of warfare, the two had become close friends.

But now Ratchet was hurt, and Optimus couldn't even show that he was worried for him.

0o0o0o0o0

By the time the first cracks of light appeared over the mountains to the east, the understandably exhausted Wheeljack had poked his head out of the repair bay long enough to tell the twins that Ratchet was still offline but stable. The news spread very quickly and a great deal of the tension melted out of the air as the Ark's occupants breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, the calm was short lived as the sensor net, newly updated with Chip's enhancements, blared an alert. The Decepticons were back.

0o0o0o0o0

"Situation!" Optimus barked as he ran into the control room.

"Radar shows approximately 20 Decepticons inbound, 30 klicks and closing." Prowl reported, his fingers flying over the keyboards as he brought up video feeds from the cameras stationed around the perimeter. "Lockdown is in progress and troops are being directed to defensive positions."

"Belay lockdown and re-deploy troops to offensive." Prime ordered, earning himself a questioning look from Prowl. "The Decepticons wanted to make this fight personal." Optimus flicked the safety off his rifle and loaded it. "Let's show them personal."

0o0o0o0o0

As he lay on his stomach on a rocky overhang beside his brother, Sideswipe's face twisted into a distinctly feral grin as he heard the new orders over the radio and they were reassigned from sniping to front line engagement. He didn't have to look to know that his twin bore the same expression.

Sideswipe scanned the horizon until his optics alighted on a familiar silhouette. "That one?" he asked, indicating the rapidly approachingjet.  
"Yes." Sunstreaker replied, optics narrowing into thin slits. In unison the twins rolled to their feet and leapt down the hillside. It was time for some well-earned revenge.

* * *

_PuraJazzBot-Does that answer your question?  
Tyra King- :evil chuckle: At least one 'Con will most certainly regret it.  
Uftaki-Glad you liked that line : ) It was quite hard to think of something that would work.  
Straya- Thanks so much for your help with this one, I really appreicate it_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Hope is a fickle thing. As hard as a diamond, but at the same time as fragile as a soap bubble.

Megatron had been counting on facing an Autobot unit who had lost their hope, the fight sucked out of them by the loss of one of the key members of their organisation. Sadly, he was greatly mistaken. The news of Ratchet's survival had bolstered the Autobot's resolve to phenomenal levels. Previously worried, anxious and despondent, now they were angry.

By now, Megatron should have known that it was never a good idea to mess with ticked off Autobots.

"Autobots! ATTACK!" Optimus boomed, sprinting out of cover to take his nemesis by surprise. The invading Decepticons were caught off guard as Autobots sprang out of concealment and leapt on their foes. The Constructicons attempted to combine into Devistator to gain the upper hand, but the process was brutally interrupted by a charge from the Dinobots. Soundwave and his Cassetticons were set upon by the entire Minibot contingent, while the Seekers were forced to split up to save their own tails as missiles of several different descriptions homed in on their position.

0o0o0o0o0

Skywarp spat oaths that would have made even a hardened veteran flinch as he dove to shake off a particularly persistent heat seeker that Bluestreak had set on him. Normally he would have teleported out of the way, but there wasn't a clear patch of sky anywhere close.

The Seeker wrenched open his air brakes and flipped into a tight split-s turn. The missile shot past him and exploded against the side of the volcano. Skywarp swung around the mountain to rejoin the main battle, only to fly directly into an incandescent magnesium flare that overloaded his visual relays with it's white glare. Blinded, he transformed and landed in a crouch, one hand rubbing his optics in a feeble attempt to make them clear faster.

Just as everything started to slowly fade back into crisp images, the Seeker heard a slight scrape of metal against rock. He half-turned to face the source of the sound and groaned. "Ohhh slag."

"Well, well, well. If it isn't our favourite birdie." Sideswipe drawled, grinning menacingly. He turned to his twin, still keeping his gun trained on the half-blinded flier. "You think we can get him to sing?" he asked, one optic ridge curved expectantly.  
"I think so." Sunstreaker replied, a cold smile momentarily gracing his perfect features.

Skywarp backed up against the rock wall behind him. This was officially not his day.

0o0o0o0o0

"I thought Megatron said this would be killin' spree!" Rumble yelped, diving to avoid being crushed between Brawn's fists.

"If ya haven't noticed," Frenzy ducked a laser blast, "Megatron says that alot! Lookout!" The warning came an instant before Jazz roared through the mele on his way to tackle Soundwave.

Frenzy groaned as he scraped himself out of the dusty soil. "We need t' get outta here before we're toast!"  
"No argument from me!" Rumble shouted back.

0o0o0o0o0

Thoroughly routed and taking heavy casualties, the Decepticons pulled back within an hour of starting their attack. This was exactly the opposite of what Megatron had been expecting, and the warlord silently vowed to make his arch nemesis pay for this latest embarrassment as he gave the order to retreat.

0o0o0o0o0

A vaguely familiar ceiling dotted with lights and vent covers was the first thing that greeted Ratchet's optics as he came back online. It took him about a minute to process the various tid-bits information being relayed to his CPU, but when the situation finally clicked the medic let out a world-weary groan."Well, if this isn't the irony of ironies. Recovering in my own repair bay, who'd have thought this would've happened?"

"Most of the Ark I think."

Ratchet levered himself into a partial sitting position and looked around for the source of the voice. "Sparkplug? What are you doing here?" He questioned the human who was sitting on the bench nearby.  
"Keeping an eye on you." The human replied. "Wheeljack staggered off to get some rest at about seven this morning. I volunteered to keep watch in case something happened."  
"Wheeljack?"  
"Yup. Hoist helped him, but he was pretty worried about you. Everyone was."

Ratchet took a moment to make sure his audio sensors were functioning properly. "They were worried about me?" he repeated.

Sparkplug laughed. "You had the twins so concerned they were pulling guard duty outside the repair bay doors." He chuckled.

"Heh. Well, whadda ya know." Ratchet smiled.


	10. Epilogue

Sorry about the delay, but life got in the way for a while.

* * *

Epilogue

The next morning, Ratchet walked into the common room to a standing ovation. Every Autobot at the Ark had squeezed into the room, all clapping and cheering at the return of the white and red medic.

"What the…?" Ratchet trailed off, looking around in stunned amazement.

"Somebody heard you'd gotten back on y' feet, an' we figured we might as well have a party to celebrate." Jazz grinned as he pressed a mug of energon into the medic's hands. "Y' had us all more than a bit worried aboutcha Ratch."

"Well then," Ratchet answered with an equally broad grin, "let's get this party started!"

0o0o0o0

Late that night, as the party wound down and overcharged Autobots began to drag themselves to their rooms, a real sense of relief infused the Ark- a sharp contrast to the anxiety that had existed there before. Several Autobots, not quite as far gone as the others, sat outside the Ark talking.

"Sure is good t' have th' old Doc fighting fit again." A rather tipsy Jazz announced as he spun on one foot and flopped back amongst the plumes of grass, his feet pointing uphill and his head downhill.  
"It is." Hound nodded in agreement. "Kinda scares me to think how close we came to losing him."  
"And how close we came to coming apart ourselves." Bumblebee added.

"It can only be expected." Prowl spoke up after a moment's silence. He was one of the few sober Autobots. "Ratchet is an integral part of this unit."  
"So how do we keep him from bein' target practice again?" Sideswipe asked.  
"Yeah." Bluestreak added. "'Cause I don't think he'd appreciate a body guard, and we can't keep him inside the Ark all the time, but he is the only fully trained medic we've got and we have to be careful with him, but I sure ain't gonna tell him where he can or can't go. He makes up his own mind about that."  
"Simple." Sideswipe replied. "We all keep an optic on him during battle an' we don't leave him alone. If he doesn't like it, tough. As Blue said, he's the only medic we've got."

"You bring up a good point." Prowl said. "Although Wheeljack is qualified for repairs and Hoist for basic repairs, we need another surgeon."  
"Ain't like we can just call up Acme an' order one." Jazz slurred. The overdose of energon was definitely starting to get to him.

"Then we do as we have done for years, make do with what we have." Prowl stated evenly. "Perceptor has an extensive background in Cybertronian physiology. He could be easily trained as a third medic to supplement Ratchet's and Wheeljack's expertise."  
"Sounds good to me." Hound answered. "But I think you'll have to wait until tomorrow evening before you suggest it to the Doc. He was quite the life of the party back there."

"Quite." Prowl replied, getting up and taking a quick glance around. "We had best be getting inside, it's getting late." He announced.

Jazz stuck one arm in the air. "A lil' help?" he asked plaintively. "Th' ground don't wanna let me go." Prowl rolled his optics and hauled Jazz to his feet. The rest of the group, either under their own power or with some help, also got up and started meandering towards the warm glow spilling out from the main entrance of the Ark.

Fin

* * *

I just wanted to say thanks to PuraJazzBot, Straya,Draange,Uftaki, Tirya King, Tiamat1972, Seiberwing, ChibiProwland XXXscalebladeXXX for reading this thing and giving me the incentive to keep going. Thanks guys : D 


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